Inspiring the next generation Following our fantastic webinar last Tuesday featuring inspiring presentations from Neil Grant for the Horticultural Trades’ Association (HTA), The Children’s Gardening Coach, Lee Connelly and Linda Petrons from Greenfingers – we’re delighted to share a wonderful opportunity exclusively for our garden centre members. A lifelong love of gardening The session highlighted…
Mark joins as inspector as applicants soar Horticultural Business Consultant Mark Pitman was selected from a record‑breaking number of applicants to secure the role as our new Garden Centre Inspector this month (March 2026). Mark, an accomplished leader from horticulture and wildlife sectors, brings more than four decades of experience from his operational management, retail…
Garden centres are the retail genre of the moment Mary Portas OBE, business strategist, broadcaster, author, and activist, brought her retail insight to the 2026 Garden Centre Association (GCA) annual conference, says Petra Hoyer Millar in The Dirt. Credited with transforming Harvey Nichols into a leading fashion destination, Mary Portas is a recognised authority on retail and…
Free member webinar on garden centre events featuring celebrity gardener Lee Connelly We’re inviting members to a free webinar entitled ‘Engaging Events for Your Garden Centre’ next Tuesday, March 10 at 3pm. The session will be hosted by our CEO, Peter, and will showcase a trio of inspiring speakers who will share practical and creative…
Member garden centres report a ‘very good’ start to the year Our Barometer of Trade (BoT) figures for January are out today and they reveal a ‘very good’ start to the year despite the wet weather (February 26, 2026). From the 13 categories member garden centres record, 10 were up when compared to January 2025…
Our Rising Star Academy for hospitality staff relaunched Following the on-going success of our innovative Westland Horticulture-sponsored Rising Stars initiative, we’ve relaunched our hospitality section (February 2026). Coordinated by Costas Constantinou of Kosko, it has been created to highlight and develop talented individuals in garden centre restaurants and cafés and to recognise the important industry…
Garden centres – get in nominations new-look Rising Stars Academy We’re urging members to get nominations in for our new-style 2026 Rising Stars Academy – designed to help develop the industry’s most talented individuals – by February 28. The revised Westland Horticulture-sponsored Academy offers those participants the chance to be mentored by experts from the…
Applications open for 2026 GCA Trust Dick Allen Scholarship & three not two could go this year Our member garden centres are invited to put team members forward for the GCA Trust Dick Allen Scholarship Award Scheme with the chance of three people benefiting this year (February 2026). The scheme is open to GCA garden…
Westland Horticulture-sponsored Rising Star winner announced at GCA Conference LOUISE Lockwood from Planters Tamworth was named as the winner of 2025’s Westland Horticulture sponsored Rising Stars programme at the Garden Centre Association’s 60th anniversary year Annual Conference yesterday (January 26, 2026). Five individuals from member garden centres presented at the industry body’s annual conference after…
Champion of champions garden centres unveiled The winners of our most prestigious awards including our Garden Centres of Excellence were announced at our annual conference today (Tuesday, January 27, 2027). The awards ceremony took place at the Carden Park Hotel, Cheshire, as part of our 60th anniversary year celebrations. Our Chief Executive, Peter Burks, says:…